Spiders of Gujarat: a Preliminary Checklist
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Journal of Threatened Taxa Bufldfng evfdence for conservafon globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Onlfne) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) Short Communfcatfon Spfders of Gujarat: a prelfmfnary checklfst Archana Yadav, Reshma Solankf, Manju Sflfwal & Dolly Kumar 26 September 2017 | Vol. 9| No. 9 | Pp. 10697–10716 10.11609/jot. 3042 .9. 9. 10697–10716 For Focus, Scope, Afms, Polfcfes and Gufdelfnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/About_JoTT For Arfcle Submfssfon Gufdelfnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/Submfssfon_Gufdelfnes For Polfcfes agafnst Scfenffc Mfsconduct vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/JoTT_Polfcy_agafnst_Scfenffc_Mfsconduct For reprfnts contact <[email protected]> Publfsher/Host Partner Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2017 | 9(9): 10697–10716 Spiders of Gujarat: a preliminary checklist Archana Yadav 1, Reshma Solanki 2, Manju Siliwal 3 & Dolly Kumar 4 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) 1,2,4 Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The M.S. University of Baroda Baroda, ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Short Sayajiganj, Vadodara, Gujarat 390002, India 3 Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society, 12, Thiruvannamalai Nagar, Saravanampatti - Kalapatti Road, Saravanampatti, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641035, India OPEN ACCESS 3 Present address: Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: This is a very first attempt to compile a checklist of spiders initiative, surveys for documenting spiders in Gujarat from Gujarat. It is a result of primary data as well as based on were carried out from March 2014 to May 2015. published literature. The spider diversity of Gujarat consists of 415 species under 169 genera and 40 families. Out of these, 29 genera and 17 families are endemic to Gujarat. Overall, high spider diversity was Study area recorded from zone III with 33 families, 132 genera and 278 species. Whereas, the zone with the least spider records was zone VI with only The study was conducted in Gujarat (22.309425 N 16 families, 39 genera and 70 species. This is an under estimated & 72.136230 E), India. Gujarat has 33 districts and 24 number and many new records as well as new species are expected as protected areas. The climate normally remains hot a result of more systematic studies on spiders in this region. reaching a temperature of 450C in the summer and Keywords: Arachnidae, arachnofauna, diversity, estimates. lowering down to 250C during the winter. The average annual rainfall ranges between 51 and 102 centimeters. Based on the climatic variation, Gujarat is divided The current world list of spider includes 46,386 into eight agro-climatic zones by the Agriculture and species under 4,026 genera and 113 families (WSC Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat: (i) 2017). India has over 1,700 species belonging to 450 lower southern Gujarat, (ii) upper southern Gujarat, (iii) genera under 61 families (WSC 2017). So far, in India, middle Gujarat, (iv) northern Gujarat, (v) Bhal & coastal state level checklists have not been compiled. This area, (vi) southern Saurashtra, (vii) northern Saurashtra, information is crucial for the forest department to and (viii) northwestern zone (Fig. 1, Table 1). Each understand the wealth of biodiversity in their states. zone varies from the other in terms of its habitat, flora, With this objective, the Gujarat Biodiversity Board (GBB) climate, soil and rainfall. These variations in the zones initiated projects for compilation and documentation of results in the diverse groups of organisms, thus making it biodiversity of various taxa in Gujarat. As a result of this a potential site for carrying out the present study. DOI: http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3042.9.9.10697-10716 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8D7A6178-B324-4401-AB4E-C6039A328089 Editor: M. Ganeshkumar, Coimbatore, India. Date of publication: 26 September 2017 (online & print) Manuscript details: Ms # 3042 | Received 08 November 2016 | Final received 23 August 2017 | Finally accepted 03 September 2017 Citation: Yadav, A., R. Solanki, M. Siliwal & D. Kumar (2017). Spiders of Gujarat: a preliminary checklist. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(9): 10697–10716 ; http://doi. org/10.11609/jott.3042.9.9.10697-10716 Copyright: © Yadav et al. 2017. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. Funding: Gujarat Biodiversity Board. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the funding agency, Gujarat Biodiversity Board for sanctioning this project and giving this opportunity to work on the amazing biodiversity of Gujarat. We would like to thank Dr. Jamal A. Khan, Chairman Biodiversity Board; Dr. A.P. Singh, presently Chief Conservator of Forest, Junagarh circle and the person who started this concept and gave the interesting task of recording the biodiversity of Gujarat to the zoology department of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. We are thankful to the Chief Conservator of Forest and Member Secretary Gujarat Biodiversity Board, Shri B.K. Singh for appreciating the work we have been doing and the motivation he has extended to us to continue the work. Our sincere thanks to the Head of the Department of Zoology, Prof. P.C. Mankodi for the support and encouragement during the project. We also would like to thank research fellows: Ms. Nimisha Garwasis, Ms. Arpita Patel, and Ms. P.K. Maneka for their valuable contribution in collecting data in the field. 10697 Spiders of Gujarat: preliminary checklist Yadav et al. Figure 1. Map of agro-climatic zones of Gujarat Methods every 12 hours. A maximum of 50 traps were placed in The sampling of spiders was carried out from the forested areas for a minimum of two nights. month of March 2014 to May 2015 throughout Gujarat. C). Sweep-net: Sweep nets were used to collect The study sites were selected based on the previous spiders mainly from grassy areas. Only low, primarily studies on spiders and carried out in the state of Gujarat herbaceous or shrubby vegetation was swept. Areas (see references in in Table 3). New habitat that had without suitable vegetation were omitted. The net was not been approached or studied so far were considered emptied at regular intervals (after three to five sweeps) for surveys. These areas included agricultural fields, to avoid loss and destruction of the specimens. residential areas, community gardens and fragmented D). Leaf-litter sampling: Leaf litter from one square habitats. meter area was collected in a polythene bag and the Spiders are found in different strata in a habitat like materials were dumped on a white surface to collect the foliage weavers, ground weavers, foliage hunters and spiders living in the microhabitat. In each habitat, 20–25 ground hunters and they cannot be collected with a collections of leaf-litter were done from different areas. single or common method. Therefore, different methods E). Active Search: Whenever spiders were were applied to collect spiders from different strata. A encountered, they were carefully picked without injuring systematic collection was made using different methods them and transferred to plastic vials containing ethanol. in every habitat zone during the study in Gujarat. The Small spiders were collected with the help of a brush following methods were employed to collect spiders dipped in ethanol. Sedentary spiders found on the leaf following Sebastian & Peter (2009) and Koh & Ming blades and those on the webs were caught in the vial (2013). by holding it open beneath them and by dislodging the A). Vegetation-beating: This method was targeted for spiders into it. spiders living in the shrub, high herb vegetation, bushes, Spider specimens collected from each location and small trees and branches. Spiders were collected were preserved in 70% ethanol and placed in individual by tapping the vegetation with a stick while holding a vials with a proper label (specimen number, locality or collecting tray or inverted umbrella underneath. study site, date, time, collector’s name). Taxonomic B). Pitfall-trap: This method was targeted for identification was done by observing specimens under collecting wandering ground spiders. For the pitfall a stereo-zoom microscope (WILD TM and Leica MPS) trap, round plastic cups of 100mm diameter and 110mm with magnification from 20X to 75X in the lab. Standard depth were used. Each pitfall was filled with ethylene literature was used for identification of spiders (Tikader glycol (about 10mm high) and these traps were checked 1980, 1982; Tikader & Biswas 1981; Sethi & Tikader 10698 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2017 | 9(9): 10697–10716 Spiders of Gujarat: preliminary checklist